D.J. Thomas Coaches was founded in 1954 by Douglas James Thomas. Having learnt his trade with Phillips’ Garage and United Welsh Coaches, the ambitious former RAF serviceman made the bold decision to purchase his own coach and start trading with his wife Barbara from their home in Skewen near Neath. From there they moved to a number of different premises before finally settling at a purpose-built depot in Milland Road, Neath where we’ve been operating for the last 38 years.
Since Doug passed away, for the last 28 years, the company has been owned and managed by Doug's son and daughter, Richard Thomas and Andrea Gibson. Completing the board of directors are Andrea’s children, Lee Gibson and Hannah Rees. Lee manages the maintenance facility while Hannah runs the office administration.
Over this time D.J. Thomas Coaches has developed into one of the pre-eminent contract and private hire operators in the South Wales area with a vehicle fleet ranging from 8-70 seats with varying capacities in-between. Through the years our vehicles have won numerous awards, including the Wales Coach of the Year and Volvo Coach of the Year at the 2017 UK Coach Rally and, the most prestigious of all, Coach of the Year in 2024.
In 2011 the Company's very own coach holiday programme was launched and became an immediate hit. Building on its success, in July 2017 the Company purchased premises in Old Market Street, Neath which houses a retail travel shop and offices. Now carrying over 20,000 passengers a year, the coach holiday programme offers a mixture of UK and European holidays, short breaks and day tours.
As the company was fast outgrowing its depot in Milland Road, in 2014 a large site in Baglan Moors was purchased. Gradually, operations were moved from Neath to Baglan, which now houses a £1 million, state-of-the-art maintenance facility with integrated office space, as well as over 40 vehicles and in excess of 50 staff.